Israel imposes entry ban on foreign boycott activists

What We’re Reading

Israeli politics

On Monday, Israel’s parliament voted into law a bill that denies entry visas to foreign nationals who publicly call or support any kind of boycott — economic, cultural or academic — against Israel or its West Bank Jewish settlements.

“Monday, the Knesset passed a law supposedly aimed at the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement,” writes Israeli MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz). “Not only does it fail to combat BDS, it arguably helps the cause.”

US-Israel relations

“The U.S. ambassador to Israel is one of the most sensitive diplomatic postings in the world,” writes Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). “In David Friedman, President Trump has nominated someone who lacks the necessary temperament to serve in such a crucial position.”

The U.S. aid program for the Palestinians is already probably the most scrutinized, vetted, conditioned, and restricted aid program the U.S. has anywhere in the world – but that has never been an obstacle to adding more conditions.

Every room overlooks the West Bank separation wall, the lobby features a Greek statue choking on teargas, and faux-security cameras dot the corridors. Welcome to “The Walled Off Hotel,” the new Bethlehem-based project from British street artist and enfant terrible Banksy.